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DJ Funk, trailblazing Chicago ghetto house producer, dies aged 54

Charles Chambers was a key innovator in dance music, speeding up beats and adding raunchy lyrics, and inspiring Daft Punk and Justice

Songs like Work Dat Body, Pump It and Run became dancefloor fillers across the American midwest and eventually around the world, powered by their call and response lyrics, which were often crude and overtly sexual. Jeff Mills and Glasgow’s Jackmaster both included DJ Funk tracks on influential mixes, while the building blocks of ghetto house evolved into the Footwork scene that is still thriving in Chicago. The French duo Daft Punk mentioned DJ Funk in their track Teachers, from their debut album Homework, in which they list all the producers who had influenced their sound.

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